


Fashion Advice and Butterbeer

by sunny_jordy



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Book 4: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Fluff, Gen, Hogsmeade, just Dumbledore and Harry casually hanging out
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-30
Updated: 2020-05-30
Packaged: 2021-03-03 03:21:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,255
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24458131
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunny_jordy/pseuds/sunny_jordy
Summary: After being chosen for the Triwizard Tournament, the last thing Harry thinks about is how he will spend the weekend - he has more urgent stuff to worry about. But even if it was the only thing he thought of, he never would've thought it'd be hanging out with professor Dumbledore in Hogsmeade.
Relationships: Albus Dumbledore & Harry Potter
Comments: 8
Kudos: 34
Collections: Get Well Soon Summer 2020





	Fashion Advice and Butterbeer

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Weltenweber](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Weltenweber/gifts).



> So, this is probably the first fluff I've ever written and finished, which means I'm a little nervous but also excited! It's been fun writing this and a challenge I hopefully managed to overcome. 
> 
> Find me on tumblr for whatever! Just click [here](https://jonmartin-trash.tumblr.com/).
> 
> Enjoy!

Harry is still trying to figure out how this happened.

He was chosen for the Triwizard Tournament just a few days ago, yet his current life seem completely different to what they used to be. As if the usual attention he is normally receiving isn’t enough, now there are more people who “desperately have to speak with him”, and… more people who dislike him publicly. In addition, Harry can’t help but feel that in some way, the whole thing made his life even weirder than before.

Maybe the fact that he and Dumbledore are quite literally shopping together at Hogsmeade contributes to the feeling.

Harry doesn’t get where it came from. Obviously, Dumbledore is more than a teacher to Harry: he is also a mentor, someone who Harry knows will give him advice and always help him, in his own way. Considering this, Harry wasn’t surprised when Dumbledore approached him two days ago on his way to Transfiguration, assuming he’d want to discuss with him the matter of the tournament, maybe try to investigate how Harry’s name ended up in the goblet. Instead, his headmaster practically informed him that they are going to Hogsmeade in the upcoming Saturday.

Harry thought that maybe there was a hidden reason for that, and he’s been racking his mind up about it non stop since Thursday. But now, as they go for round three through the colorful shelves of Honeydukes, he starts to suspect it really is just a regular trip to the small village.

“Professor?”

Dumbledore doesn’t turn around. “Yes, Harry?”

“Why are we here today?”

“Does a wizard need anything more than the promise of sweet, sweet happiness to enter Honeydukes?” The professor finally turns, presenting Harry with two different bags. “What do you think, cockroach clusters or liquorice wands?” 

Harry tries very hard not to let out an exasperated sigh. “No, I meant here, at Hogsmeade. I mean, it’s nice and all, and I like it here, but it’s a little out of routine.” Seeing Dumbledore is still looking at him with patience and holding out the sweets, Harry makes a quick decision, knowing he won’t get an answer out of Dumbledore unless he responds to his question first. “The… cockroach clusters, I think?”

Dumbledore nods decisively. “Hmm. You’re quite right , Harry. I imagine I am eating too much liquorice, don’t you think? Time to try something else for a while.” He puts the brown paper bag on top of the growing pile of sweets in his basket, not answering Harry yet. Harry, who hasn’t picked up anything but a small Bertie Bott’s box, waits, trying very hard not to repeat himself. _He’ll say something, but I probably have to wait a little, it seems._

As it seems, Dumbledore has no intention to reveal anything, and he just keeps on asking Harry to choose between different sweets and candies. Only after they pay for their findings - a full bag for Dumbledore, and a respectable pile for Harry himself - and get out of the shop, it is that Dumbledore finally answers.

“The reason I asked you to come with me today, Harry, as you might have guessed, is because of the Triwizard Tournament.” He suddenly stops in the middle of the street, turning to Harry, who halts in place and almost trips over. “You may consider this day as a… preparation. Yes, I think it’s a good word for that?” 

_Knew it._ “Alright, that makes sense. What kind of preparation? Why in Hogsmeade? Was going into Honeydukes just a cover up for what we’re really going to do?” Harry asks in a stream of flowing questions, and he is clearly on board with whatever adventure he thinks Dumbledore has in mind.

Dumbledore smiles, and it is clearly amusement in his eyes when he speaks again. “You’ll see, Harry. All I ask of you for now is to unwind a little. We have two more stops today at the shops.” At that starts walking again in long strides, and even though Harry grew tall in the summer, he still has to quicken his steps to match the pace of the professor. 

“So where to now?” Harry shoves his hands in the pockets of his robe, and scans around the street as they walk. Although it is a weekend, Hogsmeade is not crowded with wizards and witches, the babbling chatter Harry got used to from his visits alongside his classmates toned down to the usual noise of a small countryside village. _It’s kind of nice._

“We’re already there!” Dumbledore announces cheerfully, pointing to a large stone building right in front of them, and after a moment they reach it,. Harry looks up to the wooden green sign above him, and reads out the engraved golden letters: “Gladrags Wizardwear.” He remembers passing by it a few times before, but never entering; he usually doesn’t need any new clothing during the school year. “Why here?”

“Well, Harry, as you may already know, the Triwizard Tournament consists of different tasks, and you have no idea what they might entail,” Dumbledore smiles brightly. “As such, I thought to myself that it would be wise to ready yourself in all different ways, including clothing!” 

_I don’t understand why Dumbledore couldn’t tell me all of that before…_ “But how will I know what I need? I mean, I can’t buy every type of clothing, professor, and I don’t think guessing is that much of a good idea… What if I accidentally get myself a bunch of useless clothes?”

“A good question indeed! Luckily, you are accompanied by a wizard who not only know a thing or two about past tournaments…,” Dumbledore, seemingly out of nowhere, pulls out a soft, bright purple pointed hat, and wears it on his head. “But also a fashionable one! Shall we go inside?” And without waiting for an answer, he pushes the door and enters the shop.

Harry stares at the door for a few seconds, catching himself just in time to grab the door and come into the building.

The moment the door closes with a small dingle of the bell after him, Harry figures that if there is anything like a department store in the wizarding world, this is it. The shop is huge compared to the the other small, crowded ones of Hogsmeade, shelves and garment racks stocked full with colorful arrays of robes, hats, socks and what not. Although it can’t be true, it feels to Harry as though the shop is stretching endlessly, its end so far away and hidden by the different clothes that it is unseeable. 

One more obvious feature pops out to Harry’s eyes: the shop is absolutely _full_ compared to the the streets outside or any of the other shops, the chatter of many separate conversations overlapping filling the plays, almost overcoming the sounds of jazz music playing from somewhere above. If he has to, Harry bets that all of Hogsmeade’s population has drained into this one single space. 

Dumbledore takes a look back, and smiles widely when he notices the bewildered Harry behind him. “Ah, yes, this is quite the place, isn’t it? And this is the smaller shop out of the three! The one in London is a view worth seeing, I guarantee. In fact, I think the current robe I am wearing was acquired there, if my memory doesn’t betray me!” Dumbledore motions down the length of his purple and gold robes, which seem to match the hat he pulled on not a minute ago. “Which if I have to admit, is getting a bit weary, so I might be wrong. Well, I’ll stop with the babbling, we’re here to get you some clothes.”

Harry nods, still in a bit of a shock, and joins Dumbledore as they start wandering through the maze of high shelves and collection displays. He can’t help but to feel this way, confronted with this stream of new and unexpected events; and also, if he has to admit, he feels a bit weird shopping clothes alongside the headmaster.

“What are we looking for, then?” Harry asks as they walk, trying to read the writing on some of the signs as they walk through. _Frog hats, 30% off!_ , it reads out on one. _Mood hoods - change color according to your feelings! Now introducing: five new colors for never expressed before emotions_ , is written on the other. _Always-keep socks - no matter how much you try, they’re never lost!_ Harry smiles at that _. That actually sounds pretty useful. Maybe I should get them for Dobby this Christmas, I’m sure he’d be happy._

“Ha!” Dumbledore announces proudly, and turns to harry, presenting him with two different sets of clothes, entirely identical in shape and items, except for the color design itself: on a set of shining orange and yellow, the other of dull pink and brown. “Enduring clothes, fit for the most extreme of weather conditions, may they be hot or cold, raining or humid. Mostly they are used by wizards who look for the more… extreme adventures and situations, but as the tournament can be dangerous by itself, I thought you might find some use for them in at least one of the tasks! It seems about your size, and I think these two combinations are both very good!”

Harry passes his look again between the two sets, unsure of how to phrase his response. “Professor Dumbledore, this sounds like a good idea, really. It’s just that I… prefer a bit simpler clothing? So maybe there’s a set of only one color?” he asks hopefully.

Dumbledore is clearly a little disappointed by Harry’s request. “Of course, though personally I don’t see why would you opt for something like that when you have these wonderful options.” He returns the sets to hang on the rack, and starts shuffling between the clothes, turning the rack around its wheels as he does so. “What would you like? Lemonade? Lilac? Mint?”

Harry spots a simple set of black clothes, and a part of him feels relieved that he doesn’t have to be a neon sign. Although he doesn’t find colorful robes are a bad thing, he _does_ think those bright colors would be definitely a bad option for him, dragging a lot more attention than he’d like to receive. “I think that just the black set? It seems… good enough.”

Dumbledore sighs. “Of course, I imagine that it is more formal and practical, as one would say, at least for younger eyes. You know, Harry, peach was the top fashion for officials in Britain not a half century ago! But the times change quickly when it comes to style.” He pulls out the set Harry spotted, and hands it over to the boy. “So that’s for you, and you’ll have to go and get it measured, but before, you do need an additional item…,” Dumbledore starts walking away again, and Harry follows him, clutching the clothes he was handed between his hands, unsure of how to respond to all of that. _I never thought I would get professor Dumbledore’s opinions and views regarding... robe fashions? I’m not even sure how to refer to this._

“So what else do I need?” Harry asks as they pass a group of giggling young witches, noticing that they move to a little more spaced out part of the shop, which is also much fuller of other customers. It seems like they reached the part of the shop most people are immersed with: high displays present wide dresses and formal robes, all elegant evening clothes. The garments sway gently from side to side as if there’s a wind, and Harry even notices in the corner of his eye that there are two evening robes dancing around each other slowly.

Dumbledore spreads his arms wide, as if presenting a new exciting realm of possibilities. _Which if I understood what Dumbledore was talking about, it would probably be, but I don’t really,_ Harry thinks to himself. “Evening clothes, Harry! Ah, there comes a time in each wizard’s life in which he participates in something formal enough for one of these. Gladrags are known experts in the field, and they do have a decent variety. I think that you’ll find at least one of the evening robes here useful to you some time during this year!” At that, Dumbledore starts searching through the different designs, and it seems as though he once again tries to come up with options for Harry. This signals to Harry that maybe he needs to find an outfit by himself, seeing that maybe Dumbledore and he have some… differences regarding clothing pickings.

Searching by himself, Harry finds that maybe he’s not as tasteless or careless about what he wears as he first thought. Going through the wide selection of robes, he actually disregards a lot of them very quickly and decisively - sometimes it’s the color design, sometimes the just slightly wrong proportion between the length of the sleeves and the robe itself, but he keeps on having a very quick opinion about it.

“Sorry,” he mumbles when he bumps into someone, too focused on a group of robes which seemed okay to him.

“Harry, I see I finally found you,” the person he bumped into says a little above him, and Harry looks up to see Dumbledore, who to Harry’s surprise is not holding any outfit for Harry to try on in his hands.

“Sorry I wandered off, professor, I was just looking to see if I can find something,” Harry says awkwardly, understanding just now that it might have offended the professor.

Dumbledore gives a little smile and sighs. “I thought as much. I understand that maybe I tried a little too much to propose to you what I thought is nice, not thinking that maybe you have your own preferences. So, have you found anything you liked?”

Harry smiles back to Dumbledore, feeling suddenly much happier and unworried than he felt in some time. He motions with his head towards the group of clothes he was heading to a moment before. “I think one of this might do. What do you think?”

___________

After they finish up at Gladrags (the robes for Harry, plus a red hat he liked, and three pairs of socks for Dumbledore), Harry finds himself sitting in the Three Broomsticks, with the largest mug of butterbeer he ever ordered in front of him (Dumbledore insisted). In addition, on the table in front of him there’s a plate stacked with a variety of small pastries, muffins and cookies in different shapes and sizes just waiting warm to be snatched away and eaten. Dumbledore has already set to the task, picking in quiet a cookie and winking to Harry before swallowing it whole.

They eat and drink in silence, but it is not an uncomfortable one, just… the kind of casual silence only people who already know each other can have. Harry lets his thoughts wander as he stares out of the window, watching over the street outside. Snow has rained down while they were inside Gladrags, and now the red and brown tile roofs are covered by a thin layer of white. The same white coats the whole street, lightly decorating the leaves and branches of the small trees along the street, the wizards and witches of Hogsmeade and its neighbors leaving footprints in the soft snow on the pavements. As Harry’s mind drifts, he becomes less aware of the conversations around him, and more of his own feelings. In the warm light of the pub, with the butterbeer in his hands and the comforting hum of conversations around him, Harry finally can let his mind and heart have a break from the stress which accompanied him constantly in the last few days, and find comfort and safety in this one small, simple instance.

After some time like this - it might be ten minutes or half an hour, Harry can’t really tell - some part of his brain reminds him the conversation he and Dumbledore had earlier today, and that the headmaster _did_ mention that they were here because of the Triwizard Tournament. And so, even though he is reluctant to break the calm that has settled in him, Harry knows he has to ask. “Professor Dumbledore?”

Dumbledore puts down the glass he is holding (Harry is pretty sure it’s his second order of butterbeer), and looks to Harry through his somewhat iconic half-moon glasses. “Yes, Harry?”

Harry straightens himself up in his seat and lays his palms against the wooden table, propping up his elbows against it. “You mentioned before that we’re here because of the tournament. Something about preparation, right? So… what do we really need to do here, from all places?”

Dumbledore smiles, and his blue eyes twinkle as enclosing a secret. “Harry, I think you’ll find that you are more than prepared, and that this day has served its purpose.”

“I… don’t understand.”

“What have we done today?”

Harry hesitates, unsure if Dumbledore wants him to actually recount out loud, but after Dumbledore gives him an encouraging nod, he starts. “Well, we went into Honeydukes and bought some stuff, which was nice, but I don’t really see how… and then Gladrags, which I guess was preparation in the sense of that I bought some clothes which may or may not be useful? And then we got here, which again, is nice, but I don’t get how it counts as preparing.”

“Harry, let me ask you this.” Dumbledore leans forward a little. “How did you feel, since the goblet of fire let out your name?”

“I was… scared.” Harry admits. “Scared and stressed. I don’t feel like I’m ready for this. And I thought, maybe this year there won’t be anything big I have to do? Maybe this year could be quiet?” He sighs. “And now everyone seem to think I did that on purpose, as if I even could. They think I want attention, but I don’t, and I don’t even know if I can do this.” Harry takes a deep breath in, realising he is speaking a bit incoherently. He didn’t understand how much this was weighing down on him up until now. “But… today has been better. It was nice feeling like everything is still normal in the world.”

Dumbledore smiles, and from his look Harry knows without asking that Dumbledore understands. “Then this day has been the best preparation I could’ve given you, Harry. This,” he motions at the remnants of their meal, then at their purchases, “is the best of normality I could’ve offered you. I suspect the following months won’t be as normal as you wished them to be, Harry. And forgive me if I was wrong, but I thought that a day with nothing much more to it than having fun would do you some good before that.”

Harry feels warmth in his chest, suddenly aware to the fact that all of this really was just because they could do it - not for a greater cause, not for a mission. Just for Harry. “I… thank you, professor, it was - it was good.”

“Of course, Harry,” he says warmly. “You want more of those honey muffins?”

Harry smiles. “Yes, that sounds just great.”

So as the snow keeps falling outside and the logs in the pub’s hearth cackle gently, Harry eats and talks until his stomach is full and his heart is happy. And though he doesn’t know it yet, he’ll remember this day for a very, very long time.


End file.
